Meet Sandra Herdocia Monica

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sandra Herdocia Monica. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sandra Herdocia, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Well, where to begin? We both immigrated from our home country of Nicaragua as teenagers. So
happened that we each went to live with our respective older brothers who were married with their
own families. We both finished high school in America. We learned to adapt and assimilate to a new
language, a new culture, and a new country as teenagers. Funny enough, we both also have 3 kids each.
Anyone that has children knows how challenging parenthood can be! Our resilience comes from the
varied sink or swim situations experienced throughout our lives.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

What makes our business so special is family. We started the business when one of our husbands lost
his job. We all love to grill, cook and eat. We got a big grill/smoker that looked like a small submarine
and set up shop under a tent on Krome Ave at the west end of Miami Dade County.
From the beginning our kids were involved in the business. They would help with deliveries, last minute
purchases, and would come work with us on Sundays.
Besides family, what makes our catering special is that we have managed to introduce ethnic foods from
our native Nicaragua. We have a fascinating and delicious Caballo Bayo which is a display of various
foods on clay pots. It could be described as a delicious and beautifully decorated taco bar.
Finally, the attention to detail and being generous in flavors. We cook thinking of our end customers
and their guests. We cook so that our customers’ guests congratulate their host on having had a
delicious meal besides a great time.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

As with any endeavor, patience, discipline, and taking a hard look at the talents of each team member.
Nothing happens overnight; hence patience is critical. It takes time to build and grow a business. We
not only have to be patient with the business, but also with each team member. We all excel at
different tasks and lack in other tasks. Exercising discipline to align what each person is good at and
keeping all manners of communication going has helped us grow and overcome any issues. Keeping the
eye on the proverbial ball as well as keeping our friendship as a priority.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

So many advice to mind, so many… Perhaps the most important is to give the best product or service
possible and to improve on that every time. Creating a quality product or service is what gets the word-
of-mouth recommendations going, and word of mouth is the best advertisement.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @smokehousemiami
• Facebook: SmokeHouseMiami
• Other: Smokehousemiami@gmail.com